The present invention relates to a route planning system for agricultural working machines.
Publication DE 196 29 618 makes known a route planning system for combine harvesters, which, in the route plan that was determined, displays the positions of the combine harvester at which the grain tank of the combine harvester will probably be filled. To determine the grain tank fill level, the information is evaluated by throughput and fill level sensors, and the point in time when the grain tank will be completely filled is approximated with consideration for the grain tank volume. Systems of this type have the particular disadvantage that they determine the particular unloading position based on fixedly predefined driving routes of the route planning system. If the combine harvester deviates from these predefined driving routes, e.g., to avoid obstacles, the system is no longer capable of stating a reasonable unloading position, since the combine harvester subsequently travels along driving routes that the route planning system does not know. In addition, systems of this type do not permit interactions between a large number of combine harvesters and the unloading vehicles assigned to them.
In contrast, publication WO 00/35265 discloses a machine management system which coordinates and monitors the harvesting and transport activities of a large number of harvesting machines and forage vehicles. In one embodiment, a computation algorithm is provided which determines the position of the combine harvester at which the grain tank will probably be filled. This likely unloading position is transmitted to an unloading vehicle, so it can begin moving toward the likely unloading position. The main disadvantage of such systems is that the geometric position of the likely unloading point is determined soley based on the throughput and/or grain fill level which were determined, and that geographic conditions of the field are not taken into account. As a result, it is possible that a point on the field will be determined to be the unloading position, but it will not be possible to move the unloading vehicle into this position relative to the combine harvester. Situations like this always result when the precalculated unloading point is located at the end of the field or in an area blocked by obstacles such as telephone poles or trees. In these cases, the coordination function fails, and the drivers of the machines must determine their positions in a conventional manner, i.e., by sight.